Google aims to sell 200M Android phones in Africa

DrewHinshaw

DAKAR, Senegal (MarketWatch) -- Google Inc.
GOOG, +1.66%
aims to sell as many as 200 million Android phones in Sub-Saharan Africa, said a company director.

That's just 18.2 million less handsets than the amount of Apple Inc.(APPL) iPhones ever sold, from the smart phone's 2007 launch through the second half of this year, according to Apple company data.

But to get there, Mountain View, California-based Google needs the price of handsets in Africa to fall by just $30, Director for Sub-Saharan Africa Sean LaFleur said in a May 9 interview.

Prices for phones that use Google's Android software range from $80 in Kenya to $160 in Senegal, the company's director for Francophone Africa Tidjane Deme said. The difference is largely due to import duties and trade inefficiencies, he added.

If manufacturers such as Samsung Electronic Co.(005930.SE) and LG Electronic Inc. (066570.SE) could lower it to $50, the price drop could make Android the phone of choice for young residents of growing cities -- a group that accounts for more than a quarter of the continent -- La Fleur said.

"You can open the valve," he said. "It's the hardware cost and the willingness of [manufacturers] to bring the phone to market."

Google is trying to position its Android phones as a low-cost alternative to options like Research In Motion's Blackberry or Apple's iPhone.

Worldwide, Google is activating 850,000 android devices a day, according to company data. Google could see "really large" increase in that growth as costs for phone and data access plans tumbles in Africa, LaFleur said.

Since cell phones took root in Africa, in the late 1990s and early 2000s, Nokia Oyj
NOK, +0.87%
sold more than 300 million cell phones up through last year -- 61% of the country's phones and 85% of its smart phones are Nokias, according to the Espoo, Finland-based company's data.

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